Since 2012, Tesla has used what was a proprietary connector for charging their cars in North America. Other car companies have used CCS. An object look at the options shows that the Tesla connector is far more elegant that CCS. It also is physically smaller and requires less wires — both on the charger and in the vehicle.
Within the last year Aptera, the maker of a very efficient 3-wheel car, asked Tesla to open up their standard. Tesla did. It is now called NACS which stands for North American Charging Standard. Good for Aptera but more players need to adopt this standard to make a move away from CCS.
Well, it just happened. About a week ago Ford said it was going to NACS. That clearly forced the hand of GM who just announced they would go to NACS. This is a big win for everyone.
- The Tesla charger network is the most reliable in the world. This is a big win for the consumers.
- For Ford and GM it means their customers will likely get get a better charging experience.
- Ford and GM also will reduce the cost of their cars because of the less complicated interface for NACS.
- Tesla will get more customers for its charger network which will increase their revenue from charging services.
Congratulations to all involved. The only losers will be the existing unreliable charging networks.
This continues to move forward. Rivian has joined the NACS side. While the US government is still saying that you need CCS plugs on your chargers to qualify for federal funds, both Texas and Washington state have said you (only) need a NACS connector to qualify for state funds. Politics?
If you are a betting person, bet on NACS.
Rumor is that Volvo has joined and both Mercedes and Stellantis are considering it.